


I do?

by OnTheFritz



Series: Tumblepounce fics [5]
Category: Cats - Andrew Lloyd Webber, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - T. S. Eliot
Genre: M/M, i love weddings, mentions of sexy times but nothing explicit, plato and etcetera are here to help, pounce is full of surprises, seriously though they're getting married, tumble is trying to figure it out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-25 13:28:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30089805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnTheFritz/pseuds/OnTheFritz
Summary: Pounce has gone to incredible lengths to prank Tumble with a fake wedding. Lengths that suspiciously seem like it might be the real thing. But they weren't actually getting married, were they?Tumble has some realizations as he walks down the aisle towards his future not so fake husband.Based off of a chat and art by 0zzysaurus.
Relationships: Pouncival/Tumblebrutus (Cats)
Series: Tumblepounce fics [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2213961
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	I do?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [0zzysaurus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/0zzysaurus/gifts).



It was raining. Of course it was. Tumblebrutus sighed and turned away from the window. Too late to change the date now.

“So….” Plato glanced over at the suit that was hanging up in the corner. “Are you going to change or what?”

“You know this is all a big joke, right?” Tumble asked, still amazed that Plato had shown up in a suit of his own and offered to help him get ready. “Pounce doesn’t actually want to get married.”

“You’re still thinking that?”

“Yeah, I think I know Pounce well enough by now.” After all, they had been together for… well, forever it seemed. 

Tumble couldn’t really recall a time where Pounce hadn’t been in his life. Even now it felt kind of weird not having Pounce in the room with him but Etcetera had insisted that they get ready separately as per ‘tradition’. It was hard to argue with her when she got involved in the affairs of Romance.

But this wasn’t Romance. This was another one of Pounce’s jokes. A very elaborate one but still a joke. Tumble was only going along because the payoff would be hilarious and because Pounce had put a lot of effort into it.

“Sure.” Plato gave him a pitying look. “I’m going to go see how Pounce and Cettie are doing.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll get dressed, I promise.” After all, might as well go all the way with this charade.

He had barely gotten his pants on when there was a knock at the window. Incredulously he locked eyes with a soaked Pouncival, who was clinging to the windowsill and grinning at him.

“What the hell are you doing out there?” Tumble hurriedly pulled him in before he could fall to his death.

“Just wanted to see you before everyone else did.” Pounce himself was not yet dressed, which was a good thing considering how soaked he was. “After all, it is my right as your future husband.”

“I thought tradition said that we couldn’t see each other before the wedding.” Tumble muttered as he threw a towel over his lover’s head.

“Yeah, well, I still wanted to see you.” Pounce halfheartedly dried himself off and inched closer. “Also looks like I came in at a good time.”

“Look, we don’t have time before this fake ceremony you have planned.” Regretfully he dodged the tom’s questing hands. “If you wanted to jump me you should have shown up earlier.”

“I was being spontaneous.” Pounce pouted. “Also I wanted to make some memories.”

“Memories of what?”

“Of our last roll in the hay before we’re married-”

“One, we’re not rolling in any hay because that is the least arousing way you could ever put it. Two, you’re really into this whole thing, aren’t you?”

“Thing?”

“This wedding thing.”

“Well yeah I am, I kinda put a lot of work into planning all of it.”

“Seems like a lot of work for a-”

“Just shut up and enjoy the day, okay?” Pounce planted a kiss on his lips and helped himself to a generous groping in the process. “Also I’m not forgetting about this, we’re gonna resume this later.”

“Sure.”

“See you at the altar.” Pounce crouched in the window and gave Tumble one last appreciating look. “You know, you don’t have to put on a shirt if you don’t want to.”

“Why would I go without a- wait, no, why are you going back out the window?”

“I dunno, ‘s kinda fun. Makes it feel more forbidden.” Pounce ducked back out into the rain, only to immediately pop his head back in. “Oh, one more thing.”

“What, Pounce, what could it possibly be?”

“Next time I kiss you you’re gonna be my husband.” With a gleeful grin he was gone.

“He’s… he’s really trying to sell this to me.” Tumble fumbled with the buttons of his shirt. 

Somewhere in the back of his brain he knew that what he was saying was absolutely stupid, but the thought of Pounce actually planning a legitimate wedding and being serious was beyond all rational thought. Sure, there had been sort of a proposal, but that had clearly been a joke. Who proposed over text and didn’t expect it to be a joke?

And sure, Tumble had said yes, but it was because he wanted to continue the joke. Although if Pounce had actually proposed he would have said yes anyway but that was beside the point. So what if Tumble had taken the joke a little further and told Pounce that he could plan whatever wedding he wanted? And so what if Tumble had picked out his own suit because if he was going to be pranked he wanted to look good?

A knock at the door interrupted his panicked train of thought. Before he could open it Etcetera came through the door.

“Pounce better not have come in here.” She declared. “I told him that he had to wait to see you at the ceremony.”

“I’m not answering that.” Tumble sighed as, once again, he messed up the buttons on his shirt. Why was he so jittery all of a sudden?

“Here, let me help.” Etcetera gently batted his hands away. “Plato was like this before he and Vicki got married. Could barely figure out what he was wearing or where he was supposed to go.”

“Yeah, well, he was actually getting married, I don’t blame him.” Tumble muttered. “Thanks for helping.”

“I am just so glad that you two are finally doing this. You know how long I’ve been waiting?” Unceremoniously she started tucking in his shirt for him. “Ever since you two got together I’ve been dreaming of this day, wondering when it would happen, and then Pounce proposed and you said yes and all my dreams are coming true, oh, where are the tissues-”

Tumble handed her the box and resumed tucking in his shirt while she sat down and blew her nose. 

“I just- I just want everyone to be happy.” She finally said once she composed herself. “And seeing Pounce so excited and nervous just makes me excited and nervous too.”

“He was nervous?” Tumble asked. 

“Oh yes, he was almost beside himself with trying to get everything figured out. I’ve never seen him so focused in my life.”

Tumble silently shrugged on the suit jacket and tried to ignore the fact that Pounce only ever focused if something was extremely important to him. Pranks were not that important to him, but a wedding certainly would be.

“Here, let me fix this for you, your hands are shaking.” Etcetera fastened a boutonnière to his jacket. “You look so… oh Tumble, you look so in love.”

“Huh.” Tumble turned to the mirror. He felt like a bit of a dork but at least a well dressed one. 

There was another knock at the door. Etcetera opened it to reveal a mildly damp Plato.

“It’s time.” Plato said. “The rain just let up so we should be good to go.”

“Excellent!” Etcetera hurriedly smoothed out her dress and fixed her fur once last time in the mirror. “You go get Pounce and I’ll take Tumble.”

“Right. See you down there. Good luck.” Plato gave Tumble a thumbs up and disappeared again.

“This is it!” Etcetera bounced up and down. “Are you ready?”

“I guess.” It was about as confident as he could feel given the extremely confusing circumstances.

Thankfully Etcetera had more wits about her and guided him outside. Vaguely Tumble was aware that he was being watched by many pairs of eyes but he couldn’t turn to look at all the familiar faces. It would be too much to see how many people had shown up for the prank, to realize that everyone was in on the joke, it was still a joke, it had to be.

Etcetera said something to him and suddenly he was walking down an aisle. No, not an aisle. The aisle. He was wearing a nice suit and walking down the aisle up to the altar. The altar at a wedding. A wedding that just happened to be his wedding. A wedding where he was about to be married to-

Pounce. He was about to be married to Pounce.

Suddenly Pounce’s face came into clear focus. There he was, standing at the end of the aisle wearing a nice suit and grinning from ear to ear at the wedding he had planned because he wanted to get married and Tumble had said yes and suddenly Tumble knew it wasn’t a prank. 

It was real. He was about to get married to the love of his life and he had almost missed it.

“Hi.” Pounce said as Tumble took his place at his side.

“Hi.” Tumble managed to squeak out.

“Your butt looks nice in those pants. They really bring out your thighs.”

Plato none too discreetly buried his face in the flowers to hide his snort of laughter. Etcetera was already crying. The ceremony was short and sweet, which was good because Tumble was sure he was about to faint at any given moment from the sheer shock of it all.

And, of course, it started to rain again, soaking absolutely everyone involved. Yet Tumble wouldn’t change a thing.

“Uh, Tumble?” Pounce asked. 

“Huh?” Pounce’s face was the only thing he could clearly focus on.

“Do you wanna take me to be your husband?” Nervously he bounced up and down on his feet. “’cause it’s your turn to say something.”

“Oh.” Tumble took Pounce’s hands in his own. “I do. Yes, I do.”

“Bout gave me a heart attack.” Pounce muttered. “Anyways, let’s get on with it. I’m tired of waiting.”

Suddenly there were rings. Suddenly he and Pounce were exchanging rings.

“Hold on, I’m still getting used to the whole idea that we’re gonna get married.” Tumble pulled him closer, eyes tracing the raindrops falling down Pounce’s face. 

“Uh, Tumble?” Pounce grinned. “We already are married.”

The world was spinning as Pounce leaned in and kissed him, their arms around each other being the only thing holding Tumble in place as he kissed him back. Maybe there was cheering and applause, he didn’t really know, all he wanted was to hold Pounce close and kiss him and laugh and maybe cry a little (although he’d blame it on the rain afterwards). How he could feel so happy all at once was beyond him and he wasn’t going to try and figure it out.

“Are you crying?” Pounce asked him as Etcetera held on to Plato and sobbed in the background.

“No.” Tumble barely managed to keep from blubbering. “’s just the rain.”

“Uh huh.” Pounce looped his arm through Tumble’s. “Sure.”

The rest of the evening went by in just as much of a blur as the ceremony itself. Every time Tumble started to lose himself in the festivities he would suddenly be reminded that he was actually married to Pounce and have to take a moment to process the flood of giddy insanity that rushed over him. Everyone was congratulating him and gushing over how surprisingly fantastic Pounce’s planning had been and it was all a little much. It wasn’t difficult to slip away and take a moment to himself.

Tumble found himself standing out under the stars in the clear night sky, staring down at the ring on his finger and wondering what he had done in his life to deserve such happiness. When had it happened?

A pair of arms snaked around his waist as teeth gently nibbled on the back of his neck.

“Finally we can pick up where we left off.” Pounce sighed in his ear. “I’ve been staring at you all day and I can’t wait anymore. Why are weddings so long?”

“Pounce.” Tumble pulled the tom around so they were facing one another. “This isn’t a prank. We’re actually married.”

“Uh, yeah, it’s real.” Pounce pointed at the ring. “I wouldn’t have put on a suit and put that ring on you if I wasn’t serious about it.”

“You planned an entire wedding by yourself.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty proud of that actually.”

“We’re actually married now.”

“Tumble, are you okay?”

“I can’t believe it.” Incredulously Tumble sat down in the grass. “You’re my husband.”

“Um, yeah. You’re mine too.” Pounce sat down next to him and burrowed under his arm to properly cuddle him. “You even signed a certificate in front of Cettie and Plato. They witnessed it so you can’t say you didn’t do it.”

“I did.” That was true.

“Also-”

“You don’t have to prove it to me anymore.” Tumble held him tightly to his side. “I’m glad to be your husband.”

“Good.” Pounce sighed. “Because back there at the altar when you hesitated I was really wondering if maybe I made a mistake or something.”

“I thought it was a prank up until then.”

“Wow, that’s… that’s incredible.” Pounce stared at him. “I’ve never been able to prank you that good.”

“I was being stupid.” Tumble admitted. “But now that you’re stuck with me I’m gonna get you back, just you wait.”

“Yeah you were- wait, Tumble, no!” Pounce screeched as Tumble tackled him to the ground and started to tickle him mercilessly. “You can’t do this to your husband!”

“You also signed a contract and agreed to marry me, so I can!” Together they wrestled around in the grass, laughing and panting and breathlessly kissing one another under the stars. Eventually Pounce wound up in Tumble’s lap, eyes bright and wild.

“Wanna ditch the party and commiserate our union?” He asked.

“I believe the word is consummate, Pounce.”

“Yeah, that.” Pounce was already undoing the buttons on his shirt. At this rate they wouldn’t make it back inside. 

“I do.” At least it had stopped raining.


End file.
